Floating Markets of Southeast Asia
Floating markets, where goods are sold from boats, are a trademark attraction among the Southeast Asian countries such as Thailand, Indonesia and Vietnam. They originate from a time when water transport played an important role in daily life.
All these countries are located either on islands or on wet lowlands with broad river valleys. Located in tropical climate, this region was thick jungles prior to human development. The first places to be settled were adjacent to the rivers, and the people living there used boats as their main mode of travel rather than trying to push their way through the dense jungle. Although the region is now developed and there is a network of roads connecting all cities and towns, boats are still used for transport and trade by the communities along the waterways, especially by farmers whose farmlands are located by the riverside.
Damnoen Saduak Floating Market, near Bangkok. Photo credit: Julia Maudlin/Flickr
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